Alvaro Bautista and his teammate Karel Abraham achieved a good group shot for their Aspar Team by placing third and fourth for the Ducati during qualifying behind the two factory GP17s of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, on a circuit which is not traditionally not very favorable to the Desmosedici.
Alvaro Bautista set the eleventh fastest time in the wet on Friday, while Karel Abraham magnificently took fifth position, a hundredth behind Marc Marquez. At the end of the third free practice session, Bautista finished in fourth position in the combined classification of the three sessions, behind Marquez, Maverick Vinales et Dani Pedrosa. He was quite simply the best representative of Ducati and thus easily qualified directly for Q2 in the afternoon.
In this Q2, Alvaro obtained ninth place, only five hundredths from the official machine of Andrea Dovizioso, and two hundredths from his compatriot Alex Espargaro. He will start this Sunday from the third row on the grid alongside one of the two leaders of the World Championship Andrea Dovizioso, and Aleix Espargaro.
This ninth place in qualifying is one of the best obtained by Bautista this year, with seventh in Assen, eighth in Mugello and ninth in Brno. Thanks to this good position, he could match one of his most brilliant performances of the year in the race, such as the fourth place obtained in Argentina, the fifth in Mugello or the sixth in Germany.
According to Alvaro Bautista, who are " On Saturday morning we were able to ride in normal conditions and from the start I felt comfortable. We went straight into Q2 and in FP4 we worked with the race in mind, especially with the tires.
“I got in touch with Dani Pedrosa during the session; he didn't accelerate in the middle of a corner, I hit him and fell. Later, in qualifying, I could have been on the second row if I had been a tenth faster.
“I tried to look for the limit and it seems I found it, because I fell and couldn't complete the lap. The front tire for the race will for sure be the medium, but we'll have to see tomorrow for the rear. »
Qualification results:
1- Maverick Vinales – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1’47.635
2- Jorge Lorenzo – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.100
3- Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.180
4- Cal Crutchlow – LCR Honda – Honda RC213V – + 0.195
5- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.328
6- Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team - Honda RC213V - + 0.472
7- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.502
8- Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP – + 0.524
9- Alvaro Bautista – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.552
10- Andrea Iannone – Team Suzuki ECSTAR – Suzuki GSX-RR – + 0.654
11- Johann Zarco – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.767
12- Mika Kallio – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 – + 0.836
13- Jack Miller – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V
14- Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16
15- Karel Abraham – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP
16- Danilo Petrucci – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP
17- Loris Baz – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP
18- Jonas Folger – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1
19- Hector Barbera – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP
20- Alex Rins – Team Suzuki ECSTAR – Suzuki GSX-RR
21- Tito Rabat – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V
22- Scott Redding – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP
23- Bradley Smith – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16
24- Sam Lowes – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 199 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 199
3 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 183
4 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 157
5 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 150
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 110
7 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 95
8 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 92
9 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 90
10 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 84
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 62
12 Scott REDDING-Ducati 54
13 Jack MILLER-Honda 53
14 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 43
15 Loris BAZ-Ducati 39
16 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 33
17 Pol ESPARGARO-KTM 31
18 Karel ABRAHAM-Ducati 28
19 Alex RINS-Suzuki 27
20 Tito RABAT-Honda 27
21 Hector BARBERA-Ducati 23
22 Michele PIRRO-Ducati 18
Photos © Pull&Bear Aspar Team
